


Legacy

by Ralkana



Category: Trust Me (2013)
Genre: ALL THE SPOILERS, Angst with a Hopeful Ending, Ficlet, Gen, Introspection, No Dialogue, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 20:53:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1702169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralkana/pseuds/Ralkana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Hollywood legacy isn't always limited to the films you've made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> **THIS STORY CONTAINS ALL THE SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE.**
> 
> Disclaimer ~ I do not own the movie or the characters, but this is all Clark Gregg's fault.

 

There is no Funeral Mass, no vigil or rosary. Just a small graveside service expected to be sparsely attended. Marcy drives over with Angie, both of them silent, grimly wiping away the occasional tear. They arrive early and stand, staring at the plain casket resting just above the stark hole in the ground, each lost in her own memories.

Lifting her tissue, Marcy wipes her eyes and glares at the small phalanx of paparazzi, stationed a far too short distance away.

They look bored. The story — Marcy’s lips twist in a wry smile as she wonders if Howard would love that, love that his death is _a story_ , and then her tears spill over. She wipes her eyes again with the sodden mess of her kleenex, silently swearing at the smears of eye makeup on the crumpled tissue.

The story of Howard’s death is sensational, generating hits on the gossip blogs and selling a few papers, and the vultures must have assumed there’d be money to be made here.

But there are no big stars here. Not even any medium-sized or up-and-coming ones. There is only a handful of mourners, people who will miss Howard’s teasing eyes, his rueful smile. A few people who took the time to see past the shabby veneer and prickly attitude to the good man underneath, to the man who tried _so hard_.

A young man steps up beside Marcy, and she glances over, a little startled. He nods at her, face solemn, and she nods back. He’s mid-twenties, attractive in a bland Hollywood way, his suit nice, but a little ill-fitting and clearly off the rack. He looks vaguely, teasingly familiar, and she studies him furtively, trying to figure out how she knows him. He glances back at her, and she looks away.

As the minutes pass, the area around the gravesite slowly fills with a few dozen people, mostly young, teens, twenties, a few early thirties, all of them somberly dressed and solemn.

Some of them clearly recognize each other, exchanging glances and nods and quick smiles. They shift around, forming little groups, conversing in whispers and low murmurs. It’s the same careful, almost brittle tone Marcy remembers from her 20th high school reunion as they swap stories and compare where their lives are now.

Suddenly, she realizes that these are Howard’s clients, the ones that didn’t make it, the ones that weren’t good enough for Aldo to make the effort of stealing them away. Their faces tug at her memory, suggesting a toothpaste commercial here, a neighbor or friend in one of Ben’s favorite shows there, the eldest daughter in a quickly cancelled family drama over there.

She catches bits and pieces of their conversations. Medical school. Doctorate in history. Graduate school. MBA, district manager, film school, branch manager, and what she hears from everyone is: _Howard made sure that I... Howard argued that I should get... Howard negotiated for me to... Howard fought. For me._

Howard did everything he could to make sure these kids were all protected, the way no one had ever done for him.

These kids might not have made a fortune, they may never have found fame, but Howard Holloway made damn sure they had a future.

_That beats the hell out of your name in a lurid headline, Howard, or being the lead in a forgettable movie-of-the-week, _she thinks, and as the minister steps up, and the small crowd goes quiet, she hopes that somewhere, Howard sees this, and he’s smiling.__

**Author's Note:**

> Clark Gregg's performance as Howard moved me so much, and I couldn't stop thinking about this, and then it made me cry, so I had to write it.


End file.
